November 2006/2

RK Harrison Insurance Brokers Ltd, the independent London market brokers, will appoint the former Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group executive Dominic Collins to replace its retiring executive chairman, Richard Corfield.

Stephen Way has resigned from HCC Insurance Holdings, the company he founded in 1974, following a company investigation over its stock-option granting practices.

Oxygen Holdings plc, the London market intermediary backed by high profile figures such as ICAP founder Michael Spencer and former Marsh president Bob Clements, has continued the expansion of its broking operation with the acquisition of the business of S

German reinsurer Hannover Re reported a “gratifying” third quarter result in which the group posted net income of EUR123.5mn.

Bermudian (re)insurer Max Re Capital Ltd today (14 November) announced that acting chairman and CEO W Marston Becker has been permanently appointed to the position.

Aspen Insurance Holdings – the Bermudian domiciled (re)insurer which lost three of its four underwriting heads this summer – revealed plans to leverage its balance sheet last week with a $200mn hybrid offering and details of a share buy-back.

Bermudian (re)insurer Allied World Assurance Co (AWAC) bounced back from 2005’s third quarter loss of $283.4mn with a strong $114mn contribution.

Troubled Bermudian reinsurer PXRE reported a small third quarter net profit last week (8 November) as it said it continues to look for alternatives to what looks to be an increasingly inevitable slide into run-off.

Scottish Re, the beleaguered Bermudian life reinsurer, lost almost half its value as its shares crashed last week.

Fears that the insurance industry would find itself penalised in the US courts if they declined Hurricane Katrina related payments were again soothed last week when a federal judge said State Farm should not have to pay more than a policyholder’s actual l

Resurgent UK insurer Royal & Sun Alliance (R&SA) reported steady third quarter earnings with a group combined operating ratio of 93.1 percent and an operating result up 21 percent to £590mn (analysts’ consensus £592mn).

A High Court judge dismissed a class-action lawsuit brought by Lloyd’s Names against the UK government for the financial losses that hit them during the 1980s and 1990s on 9 November.